MARION — Marion City Council continues to debate proposed legislation asking the Ohio auditor of state to conduct a forensic audit of the city’s financial data — but the auditor’s office says the service may look very different from what council members imagine.
The legislation, proposed by Third Ward Councilman Ralph Smith, would direct the auditor to examine more than 20 years of city financial records. The proposal runs more than a dozen pages and lists dozens of priorities for the audit. It specifies that no city funds should be used to pay for it.
Smith has repeatedly said the legislation is not meant to imply wrongdoing by anyone. He told council he wants to know whether any city funds have been misused, and he has expressed hope the audit could be completed at no cost to the city, as it was during the city’s fiscal emergency when the state auditor’s office provided services free of charge for two years.
State Auditor spokesman David Roorbach pushed back on the premise. The Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit uses forensic audits for investigations into fraud or misuse of public funds, he said, and those audits tend to be narrow in scope.
Such audits are typically launched only after the office receives specific allegations or finds evidence of misconduct, Roorbach wrote. He noted that, according to the ordinance’s own second page, no allegations are made in the legislation.
Council has spent weeks on the measure. No vote has yet been taken, and debate is expected to continue at upcoming meetings.
